AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



675 



reader can jud^e whether or not it pays 

 to grow Alsike. 



Mr. A, says he does not mix Alsike 

 with red clover, or timothy, when grown 

 expressly for seed, but for pasture ho 

 mixes timothy with it. This Spring he 

 has sown 70 acres to Alsike, all with 

 small grain. Owing to the severe drouth 

 last year, Mr. A. has had to plow up 

 nearly 50 acres sown to Alsike in the 

 Spring of 1891. 



Besides the 45 acres which Mr. A. 

 intends to save for seed this year, he has 

 about 60 acres, chiefly Alsike, that he 

 will pasture. There are a number of 

 others in Dane county, Wis., aside from 

 Mr. A., who make the growing of 

 Alsike clover seed almost a specialty. 



I think the growers of Alsike clover 

 seed in Dane county, Wis., make a big 

 mistake by trying to grow Alsike by 

 itself. I should certainly mix it with 

 red clover — the medium variety. Red 

 clover will furnish shade to the Alsike, 

 and insure it against the effects of 

 drouth. As red clover seed is consider- 

 ably larger than the Alsike seed, it is 

 but little trouble to separate them from 

 each other. I can see no objection to 

 the mixture. Can you, reader ? 

 . St. Charles, Ills., May 10, 1892. 



IiiterestiiiEljuestloiisforBepners. 



F. H. RICHARDSON. 



On Jan. 81, 1892, my father, Jno. 

 Richardson, departed this life, leaving 

 me, among other things, 61 colonies of 

 Italian bees. I had never had the 

 slightest experience with bees, and when 

 I say that I had never seen a queen, or 

 even the inside of a hive of bees, you 

 can guess the "pickle" I was in. 

 Among father's books, however, I found 

 the " A B C of Bee-Culture," and I at 

 once began to study. I do not know 

 what I should have done without it. It 

 is simply invaluable. The American 

 Bee Journal was also a very great help 

 to me. 



The bees wintered on honey-dew in a 

 bee-cellar without ventilation, and were 

 in one section of the Heddon hive, ex- 

 cept 10 colonies in Langstroth hives. 

 The upper sections of the brood-cham- 

 ber were filled with sawdust, and over 

 the bees was a common wooden butter- 

 dish, such as you get butter in at the 

 stores, and one thickness of coarse mus- 

 lin (unbleached). 



The bees were weak when I took them 

 out, but were also weak last Fall. A 



good many had the diarrhea, but are 

 well now — none were dead. I took the 

 dirty combs from them that had it badly, 

 and substituted nice, clean ones.' So 

 far I like the Langstroth hive the best, 

 on account of its being so hard to get 

 the frames out of the shallow brood- 

 chamber of the other hive. They fit so 

 tightly endwise. 



Two days after putting the bees out, 

 I was away 21 hours, and lost 5 colonies 

 by robbing, which nearly frightened me, 

 but I think it cheap experience. 



So far I have successfully introduced 

 one queen by the "Poet" process, and 

 united 4 weak colonies. Yesterday, 

 while examining brood, I found some of 

 the cappings in one hive cut off, and a 

 worm % of an inch long in one of the 

 cells containing larv;ii almost ready to 

 hatch. What was it ? What were those 

 worms ? 



In preparing the lower section of 

 Heddon brood-chamber to put on, I am 

 putting one frame of honey on each side, 

 and one frame of bee-bread on one side 

 next to the honey, then filling up the 

 center with empty combs, and when I 

 put them on I thought that in strong 

 colonies I would take a frame of brood 

 from the upper section and put in the 

 center. Am I doing right ? 



How can I tell at sight when a bee is 

 loaded with honey ? I was not able to 

 understand how to spread the brood- 

 nest, so I just put on empty brood-combs 

 in the center. Is that right ? 



We are having a very wet Spring in 

 Missouri. Fruit is in bloom, and bees 

 are carrying pollen, but not much, if 

 any, honey. Prospects are good for 

 white clover. Here white clover and 

 Spanish-needle furnish the principal 

 honey crop. Will Dr. Miller please an- 

 swer my questions ? 



Moberly, Mo., May 2, 1892. 



Dr. Miller's answers to the questions 

 asked by Mr. Richardson, are as follows: 



"The worms were, I think, the ordi- 

 nary wax-worm. They are often found 

 in a cell, very much as larvae of a honey- 

 bee is coiled up in the cell, with very 

 little appearance of a web about them, 

 although generally they have a silken 

 gallery. 



"In doubling the hive room by adding 

 an additional half-story, if the bees need 

 honey given to them, I am not sure that 

 it would not be just as well to put it 

 nearer the center, so that the bees would 



